Why switch to a local account?

TraderGary · Jan 2, 2026

Edwin said:
Local or MS account shouldn't make any difference in those areas.

It doesn't. I just wanted to differentiate myself from the OneDrive haters. :wink:

Edwin · Jan 2, 2026

After having scooped up a sweet 365 deal, a few weeks ago, I've got 1TB upstairs, but can't think of anything to put up there!!!

pseymour · Jan 2, 2026

Edwin said:
After having scooped up a sweet 365 deal, a few weeks ago, I've got 1TB upstairs, but can't think of anything to put up there!!!

Same. I have absolutely nothing going on upstairs. :party:

Edwin · Jan 2, 2026

pseymour said:
Same. I have absolutely nothing going on upstairs.

Well executed!!!

idgat · Jan 2, 2026

pseymour said:
Same. I have absolutely nothing going on upstairs.

Unfortunately for me, there's not much going on downstairs .... :weary:

(Well someone was bound to say it eventually, might as well be me ....)

TraderGary · Jan 2, 2026

I currently have 163.8 GB in OneDrive.

This would be data that I don't want to lose, and this is my offsite storage.
A sound backup strategy obviously must have offsite storage and mine is kept up to date in real-time.

I choose to turn Files On Demand OFF.
What this does is mirror everything I have in cloud OneDrive to both System One and System Two.
In short, all my data is kept both locally and in cloud OneDrive at all times.

So, what do I have that I think has enough value?

Well, I currently have 147,543 Files in 17,901 Folders.
I keep the source code of all apps I've written in the past 45 years.
In my PDF folder I keep the documentation PDF file of every device I own.
In my Music folder I keep 1,109 Files 94 Folders of .wma files I like to listen to.
In my Music PDF folder I keep thousands of piano scores that I play on my Grand Piano.
(I can instantly display the scores on the 15" iPad I keep on my piano music rack.)
In my PowerShell folder I keep PowerShell scripts I can instantly run on either of my two computers.
In my Pictures folder I keep 42,807 digital photos, many are family photos I treasure and never want to lose.
In my Trades folder I keep a record of every stock market trade I've ever made with Excel analysis.
In OneNote are thousands of fully indexed notes I've made over the past couple of decades.
All of the Office documents I've ever made are here and I often need something I've stored.

I could keep on going.

Edwin · Jan 2, 2026

TraderGary said:
... I could keep on going.

Good explanation! Good strategy!

dwall · Jan 2, 2026

Edwin said:
So that, when I press that Power button in the morning, by the time I return from making a pot of coffee, I'm on the Desktop!

I simply setup automatic login on my Windows towers since they each serve something on the our LAN and also remotely when a user is away (Plex, Blue Iris, Calibre, etc). They all use the same MS account for login.

cereberus · Jan 2, 2026

FreeBooter said:
Local account makes better option for users who value privacy and want to avoid online data syncing. Local Accounts work entirely offline. No internet connection is required to sign in or use the core features of Windows, which is useful for restricted environments.

And how many people use PCs without connecting to internet?

Sure there are sone cases e.g. labs, people who do not use internet but tbey are a small minority.

People kid themselves that you can use internet with a local account and do not have telemetry.

It is so tedious that people think MS are an extension of a state owned security service logging everybody's inside leg measurement.

Just in case US government really considers I am a subversive, I freely disclose to them my inside leg measurement is 26 inches (I used inches to make life easier for US spies).

vsub · Jan 3, 2026

There is something I have been curious about
I am using a local account but let just say if I started with Microsoft account and you never create a local one,if for some reason you don't have internet access for a long period of time,is it possible that you one day me be unable to log in to your account if you still not have internet access

Like create an microsoft account and that device for some reason will forever don't have internet access,will it still be usable,using that account(without creating a local one)

FreeBooter · Jan 3, 2026

cereberus said:
And how many people use PCs without connecting to internet?

Sure there are sone cases e.g. labs, people who do not use internet but tbey are a small minority.

People kid themselves that you can use internet with a local account and do not have telemetry.

It is so tedious that people think MS are an extension of a state owned security service logging everybody's inside leg measurement.

Just in case US government really considers I am a subversive, I freely disclose to them my inside leg measurement is 26 inches (I used inches to make life easier for US spies).

You're telling me you can't use your PC without internet connection because many businesses for security reason won't allow internet connection.

Winuser · Jan 3, 2026

itsme1 said:
You can choose your user folder name during a clean install if you sign in with a Microsoft account. After the installation is complete, you switch to a local account.

"Starting with Windows 11 build 26220.6772 (Dev 25H2) and build 26120.6772 (Beta (24H2), build 26100.7015 (RP 24H2), and build 26200.7015 (RP 25H2), you can now customize the name of your default user folder, “C:\User\<name>”, during OOBE setup. To do so, follow these steps: (...)

The thing is that it's something new. It wasn't always that way and because of that a lot of novice users are using a username that they don't want. Does MS still default the user folders to OneDrive when first setting up a system? If yes then in my opinion that is so wrong. MS should list the pros and cons and let the users decide because not everyone can benefit from using OneDrive.

Winuser · Jan 3, 2026

FreeBooter said:
You're telling me you can't use your PC without internet connection

I think that was a what if question.

FreeBooter · Jan 3, 2026

Winuser said:
I think that was a what if question.

Why ask if question.

Winuser · Jan 3, 2026

Edwin said:
After having scooped up a sweet 365 deal, a few weeks ago, I've got 1TB upstairs, but can't think of anything to put up there!!!

I use OneDrive to save my pictures and documents too. So far I'm only using 198.4 GBs of the1TB storage I have. I also have my cell phone set to upload all the pictures and videos I take to OneDrive. My other User files have been moved to my D: drive.

TraderGary · Jan 3, 2026

Winuser said:
I use OneDrive to save my pictures and documents too. So far I'm only using 198.4 GBs of the1TB storage I have. I also have my cell phone set to upload all the pictures and videos I take to OneDrive. My other User files have been moved to my D: drive.

Is your D: drive a partition or a separate drive?

My System One and System Two each have a 1TB C: drive and the way I use folders, OneDrive, and Macrium Reflect X images, I have no need for separate partitions.

Winuser · Jan 3, 2026

TraderGary said:
Is your D: drive a partition or a separate drive?

My System One and System Two each have a 1TB C: drive and the way I use folders, OneDrive, and Macrium Reflect X images, I have no need for separate partitions.

My D: drive is a separate drive. My computer has two SSDs and one HDD. The one SSD is used for my Win 11 Pro retail install. The other SSD is used for my Win 11 Pro Insider Canary install. The HDD is my D: drive. My Downloads, Music and Videos folders are on the D: drive. I kept my Desktop folder at its default location on drive C:.

cereberus · Jan 3, 2026

FreeBooter said:
You're telling me you can't use your PC without internet connection because many businesses for security reason won't allow internet connection.

I said only a small minority use pc without internet connection.

itsme1 · Jan 4, 2026

Winuser said:
The thing is that it's something new. It wasn't always that way and because of that a lot of novice users are using a username that they don't want. Does MS still default the user folders to OneDrive when first setting up a system? If yes then in my opinion that is so wrong. MS should list the pros and cons and let the users decide because not everyone can benefit from using OneDrive.

Yes, it's new, and I saw your recent comment (and replies) in the tutorial for changing the user profile folder name, the procedure is tedious. Since it's recent, it might be in a transitional phase. The procedure may evolve to include a "username" field on the Microsoft account login page during a clean install. Ideally, Microsoft should indicate that if no username is chosen, the first five characters of the Microsoft account will be selected, and mention that names with spaces can cause problems if that's indeed the case.

I only did a clean install with a Microsoft account once, in April. OneDrive wasn't the default user folder. But during the clean install, I chose not to be signed in to OneDrive, Edge, etc. (I don't really remember if there's an option to be signed in or not in the applications during the clean install).

I'm going to do a clean install soon. If there's an option to be signed in to OneDrive during the installation, I'll do it. If OneDrive is the default folder, I'll immediately perform a second clean install.

I'll post the results in this thread, mentioning your username.

itsme1 · Jan 13, 2026

@Winuser

I performed a clean install last night (dual boot to test a problem with the HDR video streaming settings, not a true clean install to replace the old one).

During the clean install, I chose to connect to OneDrive. In the users folder there was the folder for the first 5 characters of the Microsoft account, the public folder and a DefaultUser folder for which I did not have administrator rights to access but by clicking on continue I could access it. The OneDrive folder was also located within the folder containing the first five characters of my Microsoft account.

I unlinked OneDrive from the computer, so I disconnected it, and the DefaultUser folder disappeared. I reconnected and disconnected OneDrive several times and rebooted, but the DefaultUser folder never reappeared.

A Google search for DefaultUser indicates that it's a system folder, also a folder created during the Out-of-Box Experience (OOBE) process. There are methods to delete it, but it's not recommended.

Why switch to a local account?

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